A bus boss says large numbers of “foreign students” could be contributing to delays on public transport - because communication problems take up time when buying tickets.

Stagecoach boss Andy Campbell said large groups of overseas students contributed to delays on public transport in Cambridge, saying the city needs smarter ticketing options to help ease the situation.

Mr Campbell said he would like to see the university and language schools working closely with Stagecoach to sell tickets directly to students so they would not need to buy them from the driver.

Mr Campbell said: “You can have large groups of foreign students getting on buses and taking up lots of time. They don’t always understand the language or how to get where they are going. The driver has to take longer talking to them as there’s sometimes an issue with communication.”

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Mr Campbell said he would like to work with language schools and other education establishments to sell students tickets before they embark on public transport.

Andy Campbell of Stagecoach East with some of his buses

Mr Campbell said: “We are looking at making changes to sell them tickets before they get on the bus.”

Laura Ortu, manager at the EF International Language Centre in Cambridge, said they were already helping students obtain tickets for travel and that they were actively helping students get to know the area and find their bearings.

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She said: “We do already sell bus tickets within the school. The reason for the delay is being tackled within the school. From our perspective, it would be difficult to say language schools are the problem. Students do ask questions when they get on the bus. I don’t know whether I agree that it is a cause of delays.

“I believe it would be helpful to have tickets in more language schools, but we are already trying to help the situation and, in the school. We are trying to help people find where they are going and how to get around Cambridge.”

There have been many calls for better ticketing in the city, with the Greater Cambridge City Deal looking at smart ticketing options to speed up embarkation times and smooth journeys.

Cllr Kevin Blencowe

Cllr Kevin Blencowe, executive councillor for transport at Cambridge City Council, said many bus drivers, out of a desire to help people out, became more like “mini tourist information offices” helping out international students and visitors to the city. He called for better ticketing on the city’s buses and said Cambridge risked “lagging behind” other UK cities.

Cllr Blencowe said: “I get the impression bus drivers in particular are like mini tourist information office hubs and they deal with all sorts of requests in the city from students.

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“Foreign students are often not 100 per cent sure where they are going and may take a bit longer. Clearly, if there are people trying to get on the bus, there will be a slight delay.

“With us getting so many visitors, we see a lot of people who are happy to help, and bus drivers are no different.

“Improved ticketing and a debit-type card system need to be taken seriously. It has been a long time coming. This sort of thing has been rolled out in other parts of the country. Why are we lagging behind?”

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A spokeswoman for the University of Cambridge said they were not currently working with Stagecoach to sell students tickets on site, but noted that any roll out of ticketing options within the university would need to be available to all students, not just international students.

A university spokesperson said: “The University of Cambridge is not working with Stagecoach on advanced ticketing.”